I despise Disney, but I'll still watch it. Miyazaki is just too good for minor things like principles to get in the way. I finally got to watch Spirited Away last year, and as far as I'm concerned, it blows Pixar away (and I think Pixar's pretty awesome , too).

Madman [madman.com.au] does a superb job on their discs, at very reasonable prices. They're currently in the process of releasing 10 Studio Ghibli shows. The first four - Kiki, Laputa, Mononoke and Spirited Away - have been out for a couple of months now. Actually, Spirited Away was released about the same time it was released in the US, but it was re-released with the other three.

I didn't see anything on it, but have they done any dubbing? I personally prefer subtitles, but they may try to pull a "Must appeal to a wider audience" when they pull it over to the states. Will the English speaking version suck? Who knows.

I didn't see anything on it, but have they done any dubbing? I personally prefer subtitles, but they may try to pull a "Must appeal to a wider audience" when they pull it over to the states.

Howl will almost certainly be released in the same way that Miyazaki's other movies have been here in the states: the DVDs have both english and japanese audio tracks, and English subtitles as well. As for whether the dub will suck or not -- so far, most of the dubs have been very good. The only exception, in my opinion, was Castle in the Sky, which had a pretty poor dub.

Considering that it just openned in Japan, they probably haven't done any work on an English version yet. American distributors are annoyingly slow about signing anime, even Miyazaki's work, and it would be too much of a risk to actually do English voices without any particular plans to release it in an English version. On the other hand, I bet the English script will be relatively true to the original this time.

Disney has exclusive US distribution rights to all Ghibli work (note that the Miramax label, under which Princess Mononoke was released, is owned by Disney), so there shouldn't be a problem with signing. I think Spirited Away was in US theaters within a year of its Japanese release, wasn't it? I hope this sees a similarly speedy release. Spirited Away's critical success bodes well for a fairly wide release.

I applaud your mastery of sarcasm. I wanted badly to post a similar reply, but could not muster the requisite composure to move beyond my open-mouthed amazement at such unabashed and completely laughable pretension. Its complete perfection (note the "or as I like to call it") makes it seem like an intentional troll, but the lack of AC status makes me fear that the comment is indeed genuine.

I hate movies with a moral, I watch to be entertained, not talked down to with a tone that the director needs to educate me. If you want children to grow up with some morals, talk to their parents, not Hollywood.

> I hate movies with a moral, I watch to be entertained, not talked> down to with a tone that the director needs to educate me. If you want> children to grow up with some morals, talk to their parents, not> Hollywood.

Good grief. Most children's stories throughout history, heck most stories in general, have morals to them. That's rather the point, to entertain and educate.

I agree that the idiocy of American cartoons, where there are 22 minutes of violence (without bloodshed, of course), 7 min

"I hate movies with a moral, I watch to be entertained, not talked down to with a tone that the director needs to educate me. If you want children to grow up with some morals, talk to their parents, not Hollywood."

And the cynical little boy who said this was eaten up by a wolf, but all the little children who liked movies with morals lived happily ever after.

I had this argument with a lit teacher in high school. And again with a college prof. 'Why can't a good story be just that and nothing more? How do we know Tolkein meant all this stuff, and didn't just tell a nice story?' Eventually, I've come around to their view.

Call the underlying stuff morals, call 'em themes. Whatever. But everything has underlying meanings or messages. Good artists sometimes hide the meaning just enough to evoke many interpret

A theme and a moral are very different things. A theme is simply what the story is about, the underlying reason for why things are occurring in the story. A moral is a teaching, either by directly saying this or attempting to influence a persons character by acting they way this moral is supposed to make you act. Everything has a theme, otherwise it is just a disjointed series of words, not everything has a moral. Futurama has no moral, so according to you, i should not find it entertaining because it has n

That's not the "moral," that's the background of Japanese culture from which it's created. It may be shocking to you, but working hard and not complaining are actual values (for both genders) that are very much embodied in Japanese child-rearing.

From the Japanese perspective, the moral of American media is "slack off and whine a lot."

That's not the "moral," that's the background of Japanese culture from which it's created. It may be shocking to you, but working hard and not complaining are actual values (for both genders) that are very much embodied in Japanese child-rearing.From the Japanese perspective, the moral of American media is "slack off and whine a lot."

The moral of that family-oriented japanese movie is (gasp!) in synch with the culture that spawned it? Unfuckingbelievable!

1 a : the moral significance or practical lesson (as of a story) b : a passage pointing out usually in conclusion the lesson to be drawn from a story

That's exactly the point! While you certainly can draw that lesson from Japanese movies, it's not the lesson to be drawn from the author's point of view.

Since in their culture these values are nothing unusual, from their point of view, there are other, more important lessons to be drawn from the stories. So, as the grandparent said, that's not the "moral,"

Have you ever been to Japan? In a Japanese household? I suspect you haven't. You'll be shocked, but children do not behave identically around the world. In my experience, as early as the age 4, there are stark differences in the way that children from different cultures behave. The hard-working, not-complaining Japanese child is typical, not some sort of paragon set out as an example to emulate.

Your post is a little unclear on his motivation for why he would concentrate on "working hard".

IIRC Miyazaki feels that japanese women are undervalued in modern Japanese society. Hence he always develops 'strong' female leads in his films, leads who go places because they work hard, which is the only way you'll ever go places.

He's not perpetuating a system of exploitation for women but giving them a lesson in how to live successfully. It's also why his films are better than hollywood dreck, working hard is

Er, the moral is always "good little japanese girls work hard and don't complain".

I'm trying to apply that thought to Mononoke Hime.

We have the lady Eboshi and her ex-whores. They work hard, but don't complain. Of course, they are manufacturing firearms to fend off the emperor's army, designed to be light enough to be used by women. (The male lepers also don't complain.)

We have San, who is still a girl who ends up attacking the forces of Eboshi alot, but doesn't otherwise complain. The war she

The moral in Sen to Chihiro no kamikaukushi ("Spirited Away") is basically "Don't destroy the environment" and "Children should learn manners".

Chihiro, at the beginning of the film, seems somewhat spoiled and incessantly whiney.

By the end, she has had to set her own goals, make her own decisions, accept responsibility, and carry through on a long-term plan. All without the guidance of her parents. It's the process of growing up and leaving the nest. Sorry, but "children should learn manners" just doesn't cover all that.

By the end of the film, Chihiro has come to an understanding that the world doesn't revolve around her; everyone basically acts in self-interest, and therein is the value of true friends who will act on your behalf even if it's not in their interest.

She also learns independence. See, it would be one thing if Chihiro merely latched onto the Yubaba as a surrogate mother. But she doesn't. At the end of the film, she confronts even her, in order to free her parents. This is an astounding level of independ

Chihiro, at the beginning of the film, seems somewhat spoiled and incessantly whiney.

By the end, she has had to set her own goals, make her own decisions, accept responsibility, and carry through on a long-term plan. All without the guidance of her parents. It's the process of growing up and leaving the nest. Sorry, but "children should learn manners" just doesn't cover all that.

Well, you're a bit closer than the post you're replying to, but still not quite right.

Interesting. I'm not sure I completely agree with you, but then, any good film will have multiple valid interpretations. I don't think it's useful to try and argue which one is "correct." So I don't disagree with you, anyways.

even Nausicaa... is an allegory for the real-life Cold War that was going on at the time, and what would happen if it turned hot. The environment is used in these films as a vehicle to make a point.

I got the manners part, but where was there a moral about the environment?

(Somehow I heard that Miyazaki came out of retirement to make Spirited Away after meeting a particularly spoiled child. But I suspect he'll never retire. Not that I want him to!)

You're right about Miyazaki always having a moral. But that might suggest to people who've never seen his work that he's preachy. Anything but. His stories are always simple, charming, and easy to enjoy.

I think the Stink Demon is a standard feature of Japanese folklore. I could be mistaken.

Good point about the river spirit, but I don't think that rates as a central moral of the movie. In any case, I think Miyazaki's views on the environment are more complicated than "don't mess it up". At least that's impression I take away from Princess Mononoke.

I don't think the central tenet of the movie was environmental, but there did seem to be a fairly regular pattern of appreciation of nature & criticism of human excesses.

There, I agree with you. And that was also a theme in Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, and My Neighbor Tortoro. (Which are all the movies I've seen that are original Miyazaki stories.) But only one of these (PM) is explicitly about the environment. And even there, there's a sort of fatalistic attitude -- people will muck things u

What was the moral in Totoro? Travel by catbus when you visit your seriously ill mother? Don't plant seeds without doing a dance? If there is a moral there, it's so subtly hidden that I can't spot it; it just seemed like a charming children's adventure to me.
-aiabx

My ex-girlfriend (who was Japanese) told me that he made the film to show that there are wonderful things in nature that need to be preserved - and apparently, a good chunk of the proceeds from the film went to buy up some forests near Tokyo, or something like that. It's been around 10 years, so I'm not real clear on it, but I kinda sorta remember that much...

That's a pretty lukewarm moral then. Without any clues to guide us in the plot (the conflict between nature and technology in Mononoke, for instance), we have no way of knowing whether Miyazaki is telling us to preserve the forest, rural communities, families under stress, or late night bus service. For a story to present a moral, there needs to be a choice made, with visible consequences. Otherwise, you end up like film students - reading all kinds of crap into a story that the creator never intended.

The moral in Sen to Chihiro no kamikaukushi ("Spirited Away") is basically "Don't destroy the environment" and "Children should learn manners".

There's more to it than that. Other themes I spotted:

Evil is a matter of perception. (The shadow-creature, Yubaba, and Yubaba's sister are all initially portrayed as evil until Chihiro learns more about them; and then they're not, they're just people.)

Law is fundamental to society. (There are laws and rules everywhere, and they can't be broken: if you don't cross the river before sunset, you're trapped. Yubaba must give you a job if you ask for it. Chihiro's boyfriend whose name I forget stole the charm, therefore it must be returned.)

Everything has its place. (The shadow creature doesn't belong in the bath-house; it's evil there. But it's not when it's outside. Chihiro doesn't belong in that world, where she's considered disgusting and dangerous; she belongs in the mundane world.)

Work is important. (There is no free ride. You have an obligation to society --- and, therefore, society has an obligation to you.)

Hollywood tends to push the blatantly false and downright dangerous True love conquers all (and don't put up with anything less) and You can do anything if only you want it hard enough. Frankly, I find Miyazaki's themes of social responsibility and the benefits of hard work far more suitable for children.

I love Howl's Moving Castle (and it's sequel Castle in the Air, which I think is even better). I'm eagerly awaiting seeing what he's done with it.

There's more to it than that. Other themes I spotted: Evil is a matter of perception.

You betcha!Aku, the "name" of the character who at first says he will help her escape, but later turns out to be (deceptively) cold and mean, is a japanese homophone that can mean "to become free", or "evil" (as in Samurai Jack's intro's last line "The evil that IS... Aku!").: )

Everything has its place. (The shadow creature doesn't belong in the bath-house; it's evil there. But it's not when it's outside.

Apparently the shadow creature was autobiographical. When Miyazaki became successful he became like the shadow creature. Everyone deferring to the man with gold, and the man with gold consuming so much it made him physically and spiritually ill.

Evil is a matter of perception.
Apparently that is a feature of Shinto. People are neither Good xor Evil, but Good and Evil.

This is really a big story. Miyazaki is the idol of much of the animation world (especially Pixar for instance). His films will always be on the front page, and they always generate lots of interest on this site.

The sorts of things that would be dumped into an anime section would be minor movies and TV series and things like that -- not from one of the most famous animation directors in history.

Before it came out there was a lot of hype but from the people I know who've seen it the movie wasn't very good.

I saw the move about a week and a half ago at the Shinagawa Prince Cinema, which is actually a pretty nice theater. I'm sad to say that Howl's Moving Castle was probably the worst Miyazaki Hayao movie I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot of them). That is a long way from saying it is a bad movie (it isn't), but it really doesn't stand up to any of his others.

November 22, 2004 "Howl" Breaks Japanese Weekend Box Office RecordFrom Kyodo Press Flash24:Toho announced:'Howl' earned 1,400 million yen (~$13.5 million USD) at the box office in the first day of release and its next day (Nov 20, 21). This is the highest new record at a Japanese movie.

Well, I'm pleased to be able to tell you that we'll finally be seeing a new design for a female protagonist in a Miyazaki film. Hey, it's only been about 25 years... This one's aged ninety or so throughout most of the film, so it'll be difficult for her to be yet another Nausicaa lookalike.

...pick up the four volumes of _Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind_. It's the graphic novel's answer to _Lord of the Rings_. Miyazaki creates technologies, ecologies, empires, religions... and really, really cool villains: there's the vixen princess who lives on hatred, a bored, psychotic immortal king, and a three hundred foot tall cyborg. And I'm not a big fan of most Japanese comic art, but Miyazaki has a very organic drawing style heavily influenced by Moebius, and his art is incredible.

I recommend the newer 7-volume reprint [nausicaa.net]. The books are larger (good) and unflipped (great). A box set was planned for release in November but Viz (the US publisher) dropped it without explanation.

I've seen em all. I liked the soap opera ones the least I think they float in the direction of badness.

Totoro is simple like a black and white lithograph, grease pen on stone bold lines and sublte back fill. Poco and Kiki are both very simple but one is yin and one is yang. I think Disney stole that Ballou air pirate show from Poco Roco just like they stole that stupid Atlantis movie. But hey give me a break, Sen to Chihiro wasn't that great a movie. It was good, hell it is far better than 99.9% of anime m

"They're cartoons, and therefore for kids. That's a pretty definite correlation. If he wants the Japanese movie industry to be taken seriously like the American one, try making films with *real* actors and scenes. Oh, no, that would require a budget. Take a look at the movie listings at your local picture house... see any Japanese films? Nope... or maybe just one. Compare and contrast to the vast number of American films that make it out there."

> They're cartoons, and therefore for kids. That's a pretty definite correlation.> If he wants the Japanese movie industry to be taken seriously like the> American one, try making films with *real* actors and scenes. Oh, no, that> would require a budget. Take a look at the movie listings at your local> picture house... see any Japanese films? Nope... or maybe just one. Compare> and contrast to the vast number of American films that make it out there.

Well, the US only has a relatively small fraction of the world's population, and believe it or not, these sorts of movies become huge successes making their producers and backers big bucks, even if some Yankee who's looking for the latest blow-em-up-real-good Hollywood splashganza doesn't even know they exist.

Miyazaki is an artist, and his animated films tell compelling stories in a manner that I doubt most Hollywood junkies could appreciate.

As to movie theatres in North America, they are pretty much dominated by the Hollywood system, and unless you live in a bigger community with theatres that can afford to run relatively unpopular films (foreign films, silent films and black and white films), the average movie-goer is sadly out of luck.

I've been watching a lot more older and foreign films lately. I watched Renoir's The Rules of the Game a month ago, borrowed it from my local library. What a brilliant film, but I doubt that most of my fellow Canadians and most Americans know it even exists. There's a whole ocean of great films out there, but the only way most North Americans ever know they exist is if Hollywood remakes it.

I'm not bashing American film making. I mean, Hollywood is perfectly capable of making great films still, but it's just very sad that someone like Miyazaki is condemned because he doesn't use live actors. What exactly does that mean nowadays in CGI filmmaking anyways. I mean, I consider movies like the Star Wars prequels to be basically cartoons. At some point in the not-so-distant future CGI will have evolved to the point that real-looking people on the silver screen will be completely constructed.

Whether it's animated, black and white, foreign and dubbed or subtitled into English, or a Hollywood film, I want a good story told well.

When I went to talk with Miyazaki, who is 62, I reminded him that in 1999 he said he was going to retire. Now here was another film.
"I wanted to retire," he said, "but life isn't that easy. I wanted to make a movie especially for the daughters of my friends. I opened all the drawers in my head they were all empty.

So I realized I had to make a movie just for 10 year olds, and 'Spirited Away' is my answer."

I dunno. whenever I heard about Spirited Away, people basically said "It's a neat children's movie. Looks really pretty." Sounds like an apt description to me.

Let's start with the box and the liners...

Yeah. That's called hype. Or maybe "advertising." That's become expected in the industry. It's expected in EVERY industry. Not a good thing, but nothing that Miazaki should be called on without caling the whole industry.

I sat there, searching for absolutely anything that would appeal to people over the age of twelve

Now I see why you didn't like it. It _IS_ a children's movie. To enjoy it you don't go in searching for deep meaning or whatever. You just watch the pretty pictures and maybe follow the characters and worry about what will happen to them next. Trust me... that will make the movie watching experience so much better in a lot of instances.

Does love that young/cross-species even make any sense?

Wrong kind of love, dude.

I doubt whether any academic exegesis

As I've been saying, this _IS_ a children's film. I actually think it's refreshing to see a film made for children, not some demographically researched piece of work that tries to appeal to every market segment possible AND make a big stir in academia. No, this guy just wanted to tell some kids a story that will keep their eyes held wide open with amazement. And I think he did that.

Although, yeah. Pixar has some really great films too. But I really doubt that any of them are are worthy of an "academic exegesis."

I mean, we all know the kind of people that would try to blow this films up into the proportions that you are talking about. Capital "A" Art students who try to attach all sorts of meaning to things that just isn't there. They're trying to snow job people into thinking that their painting is worth $50 Million dollars or whatever. They're just practicing on this particular movie.

Yes I did not likt spirited away to much, (although I like most other stuff done by Myiazaki)
The problem I had with spirited away was the somewhat chaotic nature of the story given the money and time constraints this movie had in production. It felt very unfinished and sort of chaotic.
From all the Myiazaki movies I have seen so far Spirited away was one of the worst.

Did anyone else think Spirited Away was overrated?
Not at all. I enjoyed it immensly.

Spirited Away is clearly made only for children.
That's odd. While not every child that I've introduced it to has liked it, every adult has. Maybe that's because most of them are parents or grandparents. I don't know. I do think that there might not be much for young adults to see in this movie as I don't think it would have appealed to me when I was in my early twenties.

The thing that you miss about Miyazaki is that he is not "just" anime. His animation style is different than anime, and his goals for telling the story are different than what most people refer to as anime. Technically, his films are anime because they are from from Japan, but trying to shoehorn such a wonderful animator into the anime category is really doing him a disservice.

If you want to see "good anime artwork", then watch something else. Miyazaki isn't going to give you that. If you want to see b